9 research outputs found
Sounding Situated Knowledges - Echo in Archaeoacoustics
This article proposes that feminist epistemologies via Donna Haraway's âSituated Knowledgesâ can be productively brought to bear upon theories of sonic knowledge production, as âsounding situated knowledges.â Sounding situated knowledges re-reads debates around the ânature of soundâ with a Harawayan notion of the ânatureculture of sound.â This aims to disrupt a traditional subject-object relation which I argue has perpetuated a pervasive âsonic naturalismâ in sound studies. The emerging field of archaeoacoustics (acoustic archaeology), which examines the role of sound in human behaviour in archaeology, is theorized as an opening with potentially profound consequences for sonic knowledge production which are not currently being realized. The echo is conceived as a material-semiotic articulation, which akin to Haraway's infamous cyborg, serves as a feminist figuration which enables this renegotiation. Archaeoacoustics research, read following Haraway both reflectively and diffractively, is understood as a critical juncture for sound studies which exposes the necessity of both embodiedness and situatedness for sonic knowledge production. Given the potential opened up by archaeoacoustics through the figure of echo, a critical renegotiation of the subject-object relation in sound studies is suggested as central in further developing theories of sonic knowledge production
Introduction: Toward an Engaged Feminist Heritage Praxis
We advocate a feminist approach to archaeological heritage work in order to transform heritage practice and the production of archaeological knowledge. We use an engaged feminist standpoint and situate intersubjectivity and intersectionality as critical components of this practice. An engaged feminist approach to heritage work allows the discipline to consider womenâs, menâs, and gender non-conforming personsâ positions in the field, to reveal their contributions, to develop critical pedagogical approaches, and to rethink forms of representation. Throughout, we emphasize the intellectual labor of women of color, queer and gender non-conforming persons, and early white feminists in archaeology